Battlefield 3 On PS3 "Pushing The Hardware Big-Time"

DICE Pleased With Results

With Battlefield 3 finally rearing its head on consoles, the debate over whether DICE managed to squeeze their visually spectacular shooter onto Sony and Microsoft's platforms is now over. They did, it looks great, case closed. The PS3 version, in particular, shows signs of DICE finally coming to grips with the Sony machine's unique architecture. And the studio is pretty pleased with their efforts, revealing they pushed Sony's hardware "big-time".

"We're pushing the hardware big-time," said DICE producer Patrick Liu. "I feel really good about where we ended up with on the PS3." Battlefield 3 is the first DICE game to utilize their newfangled Frostbite 2.0 Engine, and Liu admits if it weren't for the new features and enhancements to the tech, DICE would have struggled to fit the game on consoles.

"Of course, we have a performance budget that we have to hit," he explains. "Everything counts into that: the scale costs performance, destruction, animation, special effects…those are all the things we cram in there." Frostbite 2.0's streaming tech, in particular, paid dividends, allowing DICE to create far larger, expansive environments without having to compromise their visuals.

"It enables us to build bigger maps, whether they’re interior maps or open exterior sandbox environments," Liu said in regards to the streaming tech. "We wanted to push the scale as much as possible, and our new streaming technology is essential for that." With a beta currently in full swing and the release date looming large, Battlefield 3 and the merits of its Frostbite 2.0 engine will soon be put to the test. [Playstation Blog]